The demonstration shows live delivery of television content and added services to Motorola smartphones
In sum — what to know:
5G Broadcast PoC: R&S, Qualcomm and Motorola showcased a proof of concept (PoC) of 5G Broadcast at the SET Expo 2025 event in São Paulo, Brazil.
Direct: The PoC delivered live television and added-revenue services directly to two Motorola handsets using duplex band broadcasting.
The result: Service was robust and free of interference within the center and across two adjoining locations, the companies reported.
Rohde & Schwarz recently joined infrastructure partner, Qualcomm, and Motorola to demonstrate a 5G Broadcast proof of concept at the SET Expo 2025 event in São Paulo, Brazil. The demo showed the PoC delivering live television broadcasting and added-revenue services directly to Motorola devices.
The demonstration included a R&S TLU9 transmitter for signal quality analysis, that was hooked up to a nearby EFTX antenna, a test device from Qualcomm, and two Motorola handsets — Motorola Razr 50 and Moto Edge Plus where the stream was received.
According to R&S, the signal within the SET Expo venue — which stood at 5 km from the transmitter site — as well as outside along busy streets between two locations was high-quality and free of interference.
“Significantly, after a month of continuous operation, no interference with existing mobile networks was reported,” the company said in the press release.
“This demonstration confirms that 5G Broadcast is a viable solution for delivering mobile television and a range of value-added services without impacting existing services,” Head of Rohde & Schwarz Broadcast in Brazil, Thiago Nakagawa, said in a statement.
As Brazil transitions to TV 3.0 — popularly known as next-gen TV or next-gen broadcasting — to unlock mobile broadcasting, this represents a significant milestone in its adoption journey. The move towards TV 3.0 has been happening around the world for several years. Last year, the Brazilian government made a concerted push to kick off adoption before the 2026 FIFA World Cup by signing a decree, and making it the official television format of the country.
5G Broadcast powering next-gen broadcasting
5G Broadcast, also known as LTE-based 5G Terrestrial Broadcast, is the technology that makes mobile broadcasting possible. The standard that came out as part of the 2020 3GPP Rel-16 specification added improved features to the earlier enhanced TV (enTV) standard released in Rel-14. The goal was to deliver linear broadcast content on compatible mobile devices.
During a big event like the FIFA World Cup, when families gather in their living rooms to catch the game on TV, the network is burdened by the large number of viewers. This, on one hand, reduces quality of service (QoS) for viewers, on the other hand, increases cost of delivery for operators.
5G Broadcast allows this content to be streamed on millions of mobile devices live without internet, Wi-Fi, or a SIM card. The only condition: the devices must carry compatible chipsets the likes of which Qualcomm provides. Radio and other media broadcasts can also be streamed as long as devices are within an acceptable range from the transmitter sites.
5G Broadcast relies on existing digital terrestrial television (DTT) infrastructure to transmit television signals. São Paulo’s demonstration achieved “strong and widespread coverage without causing any interference to regular 5G cellular traffic or digital broadcasting” using the duplex gap broadcasting. The duplex band sits between the uplink and downlink bands acting as a barrier between the two, preventing interference with each other.
As demand for content delivery on mobile devices continues to climb, 5G Broadcast would play a vital role not only in serving high-quality media experiences to the masses at zero extra cost, but also in supporting public safety, emergency alerts, and other critical broadcast services.
